Could January 8th, 2024 be considered a Wright Brothers moment for personal aviation? That is the day Pivotal started taking orders for their personal electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL), Helix. As seen in the above video, filmed that same day, Pivotal’s Hayley Duncan provides an overview of this unique aircraft.
Pilot’s License Not Needed, But Training Required #
What sets Helix apart from other eVTOLs in development is that it is designed as an FAA Part 103 ultralight vehicle. Because it is an ultralight, a person does not need a pilot’s license to fly the Helix.
“…operators of ultralight vehicles are not required to meet any aeronautical knowledge, age, or experience requirements to operate those vehicles or to have airman or medical certificates.”
FAA Website – Part 103 Ultralight Vehicles
With a required pilot training and qualification that typically requires two weeks of onsite training, it is clear that safety is at the forefront of Pivotal’s overall product experience. Key components of this training include:
- Ground school
- Aircraft handling
- Simulator training
- Fight training
- Supplementary training
- Friends and family training
Safety First #
Training/Support is one of eight components that Pivotal touts as creating a safe product and experience. It starts with the aircraft design which, due to Part 103 rules on parameters such as weight limits, forces a simplicity in the plane’s architecture. For instance, there are no tilting propellers or rotating wings, like other eVTOL designs.
The design also includes multiple levels of redundancy such as:
- “Triple redundant flight control system”
- only 6 of the 8 rotors are required for flight and landing
- “Split elevons tolerate servo failure”
Even its landing options provide a level of redundancy. For instance, given its inherent vertical take-off and landing capability, it offers more landing options than a traditional aircraft. Helix’s amphibious hull floats and allows emergency landings on water. Finally, it includes a whole aircraft ballistic parachute system.
The flight control and the associated user interface are the components that comprise the heart of the Helix customer experience. With features such as auto-takeoff and auto-land, fly-by-wire, joystick control, and a flight panel with navigation and flight data, Helix practically flies itself.
Just Taking Off #
At a retail price starting at $190,000, the initial market for Helix is most likely limited to early adopters with disposable wealth. The typical use-case in its current form is most likely recreational flying, as it only has a 20-mile range with a top speed, limited by the FAA, of 63 mph. Other FAA Part 103 rules put tight restrictions on where it can fly.1
The important thing is that it gets an eVTOL into the market (delivery of production units starts in June 2024) without lengthy FAA certification.2 This will help develop the use cases and help Pivotal continue to refine its offering. In the above interview, Duncan refers to one of their first customers who uses Helix to commute from his western Kentucky home to his business.
Being in the market also provides valuable feedback in understanding how communities view these new aircraft.3 For example, this article in the Methow Valley News summarizes citizens’ concerns regarding Helix’s predecessor, Blackfly.
The complaint regarding the noise from the Blackfly is interesting, as the cruise mode noise level, measured at 150 feet away, is 4 dB less than an electric car at that distance (72 dBA versus 76 dBA). No specifications are provided for landing and take-off noise levels. In the rural context, however, where there is less ambient noise, the community impact to a community is likely to be different than in a suburban or urban area.
The Sky Is the Limit #
Tim Lum is the pilot mentioned in the Methow Valley news article and shown in the above video. Lum’s background points to possible future variations and derivatives of Helix. He is a former smoke jumper and has performed military medical rescues.
An aircraft, like Helix, could be invaluable for getting rescue personnel to the scene of an emergency; bypassing traffic, and avoiding curvy mountainous roads.
It is not difficult to imagine an autonomous cargo version bringing supplies to rescue workers or firefighters in remote locales. As Duncan mentions, they currently use remote piloting to test features. Extending remote pilot and other features is more of a regulatory than a technical issue.4
Using an industry-standard Level 2 charger, the Helix goes from 20% to 100% charge in 75 minutes. It is slightly more efficient with that charge than a typical electric vehicle, using 245 Wh per mile, compared to 250 to 300 Wh per mile.5
Helix is part of a foundation built on five major platform generations. Its recent announcement that the U.S. Air Force contracted and is evaluating eight BlackFly light eVTOLs is evidence of the application of their technology beyond personal flight.
“Larger aircraft designs are part of our product roadmap, although it is still too early for us to share these plans.”
Pivotal FAQs, 5/4/24
As hinted on its website and quoted above, Helix represents one more step in this Silicon Valley company’s 15-year mission to
“Open the world to the possibilities of flight.”
Pivotal About page
Footnotes #
- FAA Part 103.15 “No person may operate an ultralight vehicle over any congested area of a city, town, or settlement, or over any open air assembly of persons.” ↩︎
- A relatively simple and fast, non-FAA recognition process has been followed for Pivotal’s ultralight aircraft. ↩︎
- This ViodiTV interview that features Anna Mracek Dietrich of the Community Air Mobility Initiative, Darrel Swanson of Swanson Aviation Consultancy, and Matt Polka, retired CEO of ACA Connects is a good primer on the importance of community engagement. ↩︎
- For instance, delivering supplies would mean is not being used for “recreation or sports purposes only” as per the requirements of FAA Part 103. Delivery of goods would need a different certfication. ↩︎
- As an example of the range of electric car performance, a 2023 Telsa Model 3 RWD uses 250 Wh per mile, while a Tesla Model 3 Performance AWD requires 300 Wh per mile. Of course, this is not an apples-to-apples comparison as the payloads and use cases for the Helix and Model 3 are completely different. ↩︎
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